Sufism and Personality Development

Personality development is the process of improvement in behaviors and attitudes to make an individual a unique person. Sufism brings about positive changes in the behaviors of individuals. The positive changes are brought through moral development within   inductive environment griped by building of character. Moral development guides through “Zuhud” and “Taqwa” for minimization of material luxuries, enhancement of repentance and self-purification. The purpose of moral development is achieved with an institution articulated with teacher-student (Murshid-Murid) relationships; this environment ensures the provision of guidance and scholarships for the engaged students. The engagement of students revolves around knowledge, awareness and behavior. In the dimension of knowledge students are helped with raising moral and spiritual awarenessto enhance firmness in faith and encouragement towards good deeds. In addition, behavioral (amal) dimension is covered with remembrance of Allah, optional prayers, fasting services, alms giving along with obligatory ones. All these behavioral deeds are performed with devotion for the sake of closeness “Taqarrub” to Allah. Finally, ma’rifat (Recognition) is applied to secure soundness in building of character.

Impact of Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility on Firms Performance: A Moderating Role of Corporate Philanthropy

The paper examines the effect of Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility on firm’s performance in the listed companies of Pakistan Stock Exchange in the presence of Corporate Philanthropy. The study employs yearly data spanning over the period of 2004 to 2017. Variables such as Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Specific Variables serve as independent variables, Corporate Philanthropy as a moderating variable and firm’s performance proxies by Earning Yield, Tobin’s Q, Return on Assets and Return on Equity as dependent variables in the model. Data has been extracted from Annual reports of the firms, Security &Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan Stock Exchange and Pakistan Center of Philanthropy. Results deduced that Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility have significant effect on firm’s performance. The data has been analyzed with a view to check cause and effect relationship by using Multivariate Panel Data Analysis. Generalized Method of Movement (GMM) / Dynamic Panel Method (DPM) method is used to ensure that there are no issues of Reverse Causality, Feedback affect, Endogeneity and Simultaneity. Firm Age, Leverage, Board Independence, CEO Duality, Miscellaneous Project of Social Responsibility, Cash Donation, Earthquake and Natural Disaster have negative impact on firm’s performance i.e. Earning Yield, Tobin’s Q, Return on Assets and Return on Equity. However, Firm Size, Education Sector, Infrastructure Development, Charity in shape of material and Miscellaneous Project of Philanthropy have positive impact on firm’s performance. Mixed results were found in case of Board Size and Corporate Social Responsibility. While considering the Earning Yield and Return on Assets as a firm’s performance, Board Size has negative and Corporate Social Responsibility has positive impact on Earning Yield and Return on Assets. The role of Corporate Philanthropy as moderator between Corporate Governance and firm’s performance is also significant. Corporate Philanthropy represents negative significant moderating effect in relation with Firm Age, Firm Size and Leverage; moreover, it has positive significant moderating effect in relation to Board Independence and Board Size. Results also reveal that Cash Donation, Infrastructure Development and Natural Disaster show significant positive moderating effect on Board Independence with firm’s performance. Similarly, Infrastructure Development and Miscellaneous Project of Philanthropy have also shown positive moderating impact on Board Size and Firm Size with firm’s performance. After using the GMM / DPM technique, three out of five different settings of Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility and Firm Specific Variables on firm’s performance in the presence of Corporate Philanthropy encountered problem of Reverse Causality, Feedback’s influence, endogeneity and simultaneity. These results showed no variation from previous findings except Corporate Social Responsibility has positive significant impact on firm’s performance. Results confirmed that Corporate Philanthropy moderates the relation between Corporate Governance and firm’s performance. Results reveal that Market based measures (Earning Yield and Tobin’s Q) are more dynamic in nature. Nonexistence of standard format for reporting philanthropy data poses difficulty in making rational analysis and developing uniformity basis for all the firms. The philanthropic contribution of any organization is attributed towards the enhancement of firm’s performance. Results unfold that this study will be a guideline for regulatory bodies to formulate a comprehensive policy framework to Pakistan Stock Exchange so that uniformity of reporting philanthropy should be adhered.